The investigation team probing the Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab (BoP) loan scandal submitted another report to the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday stated that former law minister Dr Babar Awan and former attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum had extorted Rs 35 million and Rs 40 million respectively in the name of judges in the Haris Steel Mills case.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the probe report, however, exonerated senior lawyers Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Waseem Sajjad and Ali Waseem from similar charges of extortion.
They said the report was submitted by Punjab Police Additional Inspector General Aftab Sultan, who was heading the investigation on SC orders. They said according to the report, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) was the forum that could take disciplinary action against the accused lawyers.
On November 24, 2010, Sheikh Afzal, owner of Haris Steel Mills and the main accused in the Rs 9 billion scam at the BoP had revealed to the SC that he gave Rs 35 million to Awan and Rs 40 million to Qayyum for winning the case in the apex court.
Earlier in March this year, Aftab Sultan had also submitted a voluminous report on the BoP loan scam in the SC. The report, comprising some 5,000 pages, explored new names and new linkages. “The team was also investigating the roles of those renowned lawyers and politicians who were allegedly involved in borrowing money in the name of judges,” said the report.
The SC had appointed Sultan the head of the investigation team on June 18, 2010 because it was not satisfied with the National Accountability Bureau’s investigation into the case.
